Sora's Shadow With a Heart
by Goblin Cat KC
Summary: The darkness has begun to act strangely, affecting Riku's balance. Sora and Riku look for the answer, but they discover that few people trust a keyblade master who gave himself to the darkness, most of all, Riku himself. Sora:Riku slash.
1. Chapter 1

**Sora's Shadow with A Heart**

by KC

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Disney or Square Enix. Damn.

**Summary: **The darkness has begun to act strangely, affecting Riku's balance. Sora and Riku look for the answer, but they quickly discover that even though Riku helped save the world, few people are willing to trust a keyblade master who gave himself to the darkness. Most of all Riku himself.

**Pairings:** Sora/Riku

**Other Info:** takes place after KH2

*

Sora found Riku in the same place he usually did, sitting on a lonely stretch of beach throwing stones into the water and watching the sun sink into the horizon. His school jacket lay in a heap on the sand. It felt strange to Sora, going to class and living like a regular kid, but Riku looked even more out of place in school now than before. When they ate lunch together with Kairi on the roof, Riku paid more attention to the waves lapping at the island. He daydreamed in class, and when the final bell rang and everyone left, Riku walked with slow steps as if he had nowhere to go.

He attended more to accompany Sora than anything else. He'd learned plenty in Maleficent's library, and more of life than he cared to remember. School dances, break ups and make ups, and club fund raisers meant nothing to him. Sora wasn't the only one who'd noticed, but he was the only one who knew why. It was impossible to forgot everything he'd done.

On days when he ditched his classes, Riku would row out to the island and practice his swordplay and magic, but today he'd actually attended school. Sora wished he hadn't. Then Riku wouldn't have been pulled out of class and sent to hear a lecture from the counselors, or caught a glimpse of the administrators warning Sora about--

"What'd they call me this time?" Riku asked, not bothering to turn as he hurled another stone. "Disturbed delinquent? An attitude problem?"

"Troubled young man," Sora answered, sitting down beside him and dropping his books in the sand. The school uniform pulled at his neck so he unbuttoned the dark blue top shirt. "They won't listen to me. They keep saying you're the reason my grades went down so bad."

"Tch."

Sora winced. Despite the cool facade Riku put up, he knew his friend was self-conscious about how others saw him. That Riku refused to speak civily to his teachers only made them dislike him, which made him act even more dismissive. He didn't even bother listening to them anymore. So why wouldn't the school blame Sora's low grades on his best friend's bad influence?

"Doesn't matter," Riku said, shrugging it off. He glanced over at Sora's bookbag. "Did you get your test back?"

"Oh yeah." Sora grabbed one of his books and opened it, flipping to the middle. A long sheet of paper lay folded in half between the pages and he took it out, presenting it to Riku with a puff of pride. "I passed."

Glancing at the score and then at the missed questions, Riku tilted his head with a wry smile. "Barely."

"Aw come on!" Sora said. "It's better than last time."

"Mm, true." Riku let the paper slide out of his hand as he turned towards Sora. "I think your scores would be higher if you stopped distracting your tutor all the time."

Sora's smile widened and he leaned in for a kiss. As their lips met, he couldn't help but scoot closer and closer, slowly pushing Riku down on the sand. He loved pressing up against him. Riku smelled like a sea breeze and Sora crawled on top of him, fingers tangling with Riku's just to make sure he didn't disappear with the wind.

"Reading's boring," Sora murmured. "I'd rather study something real."

"You've gotta pass literature..." Riku said half-heartedly, loathe to stop Sora from unbuttoning his shirt. Almost all of their time together ended up like this. Sora so easily distracted him that they never finished half of what Sora needed to study.

"I'll worry about it later," Sora said, tugging the last button free and pulling Riku's shirt open. "I'll study with you when exams come around."

Riku didn't have a comeback for that. Worse, he tilted his head and stared at the distant island, unable to meet Sora's eyes. His silence and sudden unresponsiveness drew Sora's attention and the keyblade master sat up a little.

"Riku? What's wrong?" He tried to look into Riku's eyes, no easy task when he refused to look up. "You are gonna take your exams, right?"

Breathing out a sigh, Riku closed his eyes. "I was going to tell you. I just couldn't find the right time."

Feeling a twinge of panic, Sora grabbed Riku's head and forced him to look at him. "You have to take them! I know you hate school but you gotta take those exams."

"Ow! Ease up!" Riku winced and put his hands on Sora's to ease his grip. "It's not that. I already took them."

Sora sat back, his brow furrowing. "I don't get it."

"I took them early." Riku couldn't sit up with Sora sitting on him, but he could at least rise up on his elbows. "The school doesn't know because the scores haven't been mailed yet, but I'm done."

"Oh."

Sora's head dipped. They had never talked about going to a university together, unlikely with Sora's grades anyway, but if Riku was all set to move on without him...

"I'm not leaving," Riku rushed to reassure him as if he could read his thoughts. It wasn't hard to tell what Sora was thinking about anyway, not after all this time together. "I've decided not to go to a university. I'm staying here."

"No!" Sora's outburst surprised both of them, but he forced himself to talk over Riku's confused look. "You have to go. You're smart. And besides, even if I can't get in, I can still go with you--"

"Sora, relax. I don't want to go."

Riku gave him a small smile and half-shrug. Few things made him happy anymore, but the thought of staying with Sora forever made him smile every time.

"Huh?" Sora tilted his head. "But I thought--"

"I thought of something different. We're not kids with wooden swords anymore. We're both really good swordsmen." Now that the subject was broached, the explanation spilled from him in a rush. "We could open a school here. We'd be the only ones in this part of the country. We have our own style. We'd just need to name it."

"A sword school?" Sora blinked. It was true there wasn't one for hundreds of miles. They'd been forced to practice all by themselves before. To teach what he was good at, better yet, to make a living off something he enjoyed, sounded a lot better than studying stupid literature. "You and me?"

Riku nodded. "We've both got plenty of munny leftover. It'd be more than enough to start a school."

"You really think we could?"

"Are you kidding?" Riku smiled. "We're the best fighters ever. Keyblade masters, guardians of the door to light--"

A deep rumble cut his words off. The ground shook, and they both looked out toward the ocean. Half a mile out, water exploded up towards the sky in a brilliant flash of light. A moment later, the familiar glitter of a stolen heart spiralled into the air and disappeared.

"What the...?"

Sora scrambled off of Riku and they both rose to their feet, but the water turned calm again with only a few strong waves lapping at the sand at their feet to show that something had happened.

"You saw it too, right?" Sora asked.

Riku nodded. "I don't understand. I thought--"

He broke off as the air around him changed and turned heavy with a scent he'd hoped never to catch again. His shoulders squared and his mouth firmed into a thin line.

"Riku, what is it?"

"Darkness."

A few seconds of calm passed, and they waded into the surf trying to get a better look. Riku shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun, straining to see the slightest ripple. Then the water's surface bubbled and rolled violently, and the spot of churning froth slowly came towards the beach. A dark blue and green blob pushed up and finally broke free of the water, revealing the round head and sharp fangs of a sea serpent slithering onto the sand. The red outline of a heart flashed on its chest.

"A heartless?" Sora breathed.

Although it had no legs, the serpent came out of the ocean quickly, gathering its long body into dozens of coils that twisted like wheels around it. Once free of the water, the serpent reared up and roared loud enough that the sound vibrated in the boys' chests, then lowered itself again and slithered over the beach.

"It's heading for town," Riku said, holding out his hand and summoning his keyblade.

Beside him, Sora summoned his own keyblade. Side by side they ran after the heartless serpent, their things forgotten on the beach.

tbc...


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

The heartless serpent moved faster than either of them could run, but it left a deep furrow in the ground for them to follow. They found it in the center of their small town rearing up and towering over houses, its scales glittering in the sunlight. Its tail flipped and sliced a home in half as two people scrambled out of a side window.

Riku and Sora ran against the flow of screaming people trying to escape. Hearing Sora call his name, Riku turned and saw his friend leap up out of the crowd onto the nearest roof. Riku jumped after him, following Sora over the streets until they landed in the serpent's shadow. As one, they crouched and leaped, keyblades swinging towards the same point on the serpent's back.

They both struck perfectly but did little more damage than knock off a few scales. The serpent cried out in pain and twisted around, snapping its jaws. As Sora slipped back to the ground, Riku grabbed one of the spines along the serpent's back and hung on as the heartless creature coiled in on itself, trying to throw him off. When it snapped him up into the air, he let go of the spine and adjusted his flight, landing on the creature's head. With a yell, he drove his Way to Dawn into the serpent's eye.

It drew its head back so fast that there was no time to hang on. He fell to the ground, dodging a massive coil that nearly flattened him.

At this range he couldn't miss as he swung repeatedly at the serpent's underbelly, but what should have been soft scales resisted his blade like iron. Instead he found himself panting for breath every time he dodged another coil, and he wished he had some of his equipment from before, his soldier earring or an acrisius.

A startled cry from above made him look up. His breath caught. High overhead, Sora wedged his keyblade between the serpent's jaws, balacing precariously on its fangs as it tried to swallow him. Riku couldn't clearly see what Sora was doing, but a second later it didn't matter as the serpent whipped its head around and sent Sora crashing headfirst to the ground somewhere several streets away.

"Sora!"

Riku raced towards him but the serpent was faster, riding on its coils intent on destroying the keyblade master of light. Riku spotted Sora lying in rubble, pressing a hand to his head and groaning.

The serpent was almost on him. Sora's hand tensed on the keyblade as the heartless lunged, but Riku couldn't see how he could move fast enough. The teeth were so long and sharp and dripping. Fear devoured him. Sora couldn't get away--

Seized with panic, Riku brought his keyblade up over his head, giving a shout as he summoned the darkness around himself.

Long months had passed since he had used the power of darkness, but the shadows came as if no time had passed, swirling around him at his command. Pulsing with its own heartbeat, darkness coalesced over him and swallowed him whole.

The serpent sensed his sudden change but it had no time to react. Its jaws clamped down on a Sora's keyblade, confused when it didn't break, and it reared up high, shaking its head and the keyblade master hanging on tight.

Curled up and tense, Riku held himself aloft in the air, emerging from the shadows in his black outfit and white skirt, the blood red heartless emblem emblazoned on his chest. Stepping back onto the earth, he took a deep breath and raised his Way to Dawn, readying his attack.

Amidst the clouds, Sora struggled to keep out of the serpent's jaws as they tightened around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black blur cut through the air, slashing along the dragon's back. Riku's keyblade drove deep into the heartless, sinking between the scales and gouging deep. Black ichor dripped from the wound as Riku withdrew.

Sora's eyes widened when he realized what Riku was wearing, recognized the dark trails behind his keyblade.

Startled as he was by Riku's change, the dragon's painfilled screams dragged Sora back to his own fight. The dragon thrashed its head, coiling its body as Riku dealt another blow somewhere out of Sora's sight. Its fangs shuddered and scraped like knives against the keyblade.

Sora twisted, finally dragging his keyblade back, cutting its vulnerable mouth as he leaped clear, and for a moment he saw the fight from the sky.

Houses lay in crumbled piles. The air was silent save for the dragon's labored breathing, like ocean waves crashing into a cave, and Riku's keyblade stabbed into the acrid blood gushing from the dragon's side.

The fight was all but over when Sora landed nearby. The dragon collapsed to the earth a moment later, shaking the ground with its weight. Riku landed on its head, raised his keyblade one last time, and plunged the point down into its throat. The dragon jerked and spasmed, tensed as its tail thrashed violently, and then relaxed in death. The body melted into a black fog that faded into light.

When Sora could see again, Riku was gone.

()()()()()

Sand crunched underfoot, and the ocean breeze turned cold with the setting sun. The island looked silver-green in the moonlight, and Sora shied away from the water whispering at the shore. The ocean didn't look as inviting at night as it did during the day. He'd come to the island without his boat, gliding on the wind until his shoes skimmed the ocean.

Sora looked around the bare island and cupped his hands over his mouth.

"Riku, where are you?"

A check of Riku's usual spots in town didn't yield any results. He didn't think Riku could be anywhere else. His lover always came here when he felt sad or lonely or--Sora sighed. Riku never ran from him unless he was hiding something. Riku would shoulder a mountain of lonliness if it meant hiding something shameful from Sora.

The black outfit with the angry red heart brought back awful memories--Riku claiming the keyblade and humiliating him in front of his friends, facing him in a serious fight, throwing away the "prison" of his home and losing himself in the darkness. True, he hadn't been completely possessed until the fight over Kairi, but that made it worse. It'd be easy to blame the heartless and their influence, but he knew the true reason was the darkness in Riku's heart.

Sora had his own shadows to deal with. After all, there was darkness in every heart. Riku had fought against it and ultimately triumphed, but he'd shown that he could do terrible things without being possessed. To see him again clothed in darkness felt like a warning.

Riku wasn't on the bridge or in his grove of palm trees. As Sora headed towards their secret hiding place, he heard the waterfall splashing strangely. He frowned. The pitch of the water was off. Years of playing here meant he knew what it should sound like. Something was blocking the water.

"Riku," he murmured.

Shivering under the waterfall, Riku rubbed his arms, not to get warm but trying to rinse something off. He didn't acknowledge Sora, staring at the ground when Sora jumped into the lagoon and knelt in front of him.

"What's wrong?"

"It won't come off," Riku whispered. "It won't come off. The darkness, I can't get it--"

Sora grabbed his hands and pinned them down, holding Riku still. His lover refused to face him and lowered his head, letting his wet hair cover his eyes.

Sora sat down next to him and wrapped him up in his arms, holding tight as Riku squirmed.

"Don't," Riku mumbled. "Please. I don't want you to see."

"I'm not going anywhere," Sora said, pressing a kiss to his temple. "You need me."

"I don't want you to see," Riku repeated. "Not again."

"Why? 'Cause I won't love you anymore? 'Cause you're not worthy?" Sora smiled and leaned forward, trying to glimpse Riku's face. "What happened to my confident boyfriend who's rude to emperors and doesn't bow to kings?"

No response. Riku wouldn't even face him.

"You better not run off again," Sora warned him. "We'll find a way to get that outfit off. But I don't want you disappearing when I let go, okay?"

If the darkness was back, then Riku might be able to open a door through the dimensions. Sora didn't think Riku would try, not this close to him, but if he did, Sora would have to track him down all over again.

"You think--can you really take it off?" Riku asked.

"Will you stay put if I try?"

Riku nodded, and he stayed sitting as Sora let go. Riku watched him stand and summon his Oathkeeper keyblade. Sora paused as he studied his lover. Usually Riku could face him with a wry comment and a punch on the shoulder. Now Riku looked up at him in chidlike trust, leaving himself vulnerable as Sora touched the tip to the heartless emblem on Riku's chest.

Light sparkled along the metal shaft and flowed into Riku's gear. They both heard the familiar sound of the keyblade clicking a lock open, and the dark outfit faded from sight. Riku sighed in relief as he held out his gloveless hands, flexing them to make sure the darkness was gone.

"Nice trick," Sora mused, letting the keyblade disappear. "I'll have to try that again sometime."

"Huh?"

Riku noticed Sora's crooked grin and followed his look, yelping when he saw Sora had banished not just his dark gear but his regular clothes as well. Water splashed as he curled up protectively.

"Sora!"

"Sorry," Sora said cheerfully, kneeling again. "I didn't try to do that."

With both hands, Sora pushed Riku's hair clear, then cupped his face for a kiss. As Riku held still, Sora's hands trailed down his throat and chest, coming to rest on his hips. The touch of his bare skin felt wonderful under his gloves, like a hint of forbidden delights.

"You must've been soaked to the bone if you didn't notice your clothes were gone."

Sora grinned around the kiss, but he pulled himself back when he felt a shiver under his hands. Night was coming on fast and the water felt like ice. He put one arm around Riku's waist and helped him to his feet, trying not to laugh as his boyfriend blushed bright red to his chest.

"I don't think you want to fly back like that," Sora said, earning glare from the corner of Riku's eyes. "I think we left a couple blankets down in our secret place. How about we sleep there for the night?"

"F-fine by me," Riku said as he huddled closer to Sora.

The wind blew harder across the beach, cutting over Riku's skin and stealing his breath. When he ducked through the cave entrance, however, the thick vines and leaves kept out the wind.

An orange spark from a fire spell lit a branch in Sora's hand, throwing warm light and flickering silhouettes around the walls. Sora gathered the pile of blankets in the far corner and tossed them to Riku, who wrapped one around himself before spreading the other on the sand and sitting down. He quietly watched Sora scrape together pieces of bark and dead roots into a pile that he used for a campfire.

"Not too big," Riku murmured, scooting closer to dry off. "Don't want to smoke ourselves out."

Sora nodded, leaving half of the pile in arm's reach so he could toss bits and pieces in to keep the fire going. Once he was satisfied, he sat down next to Riku and stretched and yawned. Months had passed since fighting a heartless, especially one so powerful. With the added worry of watching over his lover, he found the adrenalin rush catching up to him.

"We haven't done this in ages," Sora said as he took off his gloves and jacket, folding them into a pillow. "It makes me feel sorta like a kid again."

"Yeah, 'cause you're so old," Riku said. His smile was shaky, but Sora was glad to see it at all.

As usual, Riku lay down first, using Sora's jacket for a pillow. Sora burrowed under the blanket and lay his head on Riku's shoulder, nestling closer and putting his hand on Riku's stomach. His eyes narrowed and his smile turned into a grin as he ran his fingertips over his lover's body, luxuriating in the firm expanse of skin. Riku was still cool and damp but slowly warmed against him. The fire crackling close by and the distant waves made the cave feel cozy.

"Sora?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know where that snake heartless came from?"

His hand stilled as he frowned. He was about to go to sleep and he didn't want to think about that until the morning, but he knew Riku could fixate on a problem and toss and turn all night with the question in his head.

"Not really," he said. "I thought they all disappeared with the shadow world we fought Xemnas in. Do you think maybe a few got away?"

"I don't know," Riku mused. "There were heartless in every world, but without Organization XIII using them, I didn't think there would be any big ones anymore. And then with how I couldn't get rid of my darkness after I summoned it..."

Riku fell silent. As the pause stretched, Sora rose up on his elbow and met his eyes, pushing his hair from his face.

"You think it was like before?" he asked. "When you looked like Ansem?"

A moment passed, and Sora worried that Riku would brood again. But Riku slowly shook his head.

"No. It's still darkness, but it doesn't have his scent anymore. Ansem isn't in me. If there was anything left of him, I would have looked like him. This was something else. The darkness didn't hurt me, it felt natural, but I couldn't get rid of it."

If it felt natural, Sora thought, then why did you start to panic? He didn't ask out loud. Maybe Riku panicked because it felt natural. Sora knew from experience that being covered in darkness made him animalistic and frantic, scratching and kicking at everything around him. He remembered when he'd been turned into a heartless. It had only been for a few minutes, but he remembered the hollow sense of confusion down to the last detail of his feet sliding clumsily on the floor.

"Sora," Riku suddenly said. "Tomorrow will you come with me to Hollow Bastion?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked with wide eyes. "How? We don't have a gummi ship--wait, do you think you can open a door?"

"I know I can," Riku said, staring at the blanket. "That's how I came here after the fight. I didn't fly."

Sora's skin prickled as he realized how close he'd come to Riku vanishing again. Maybe Riku had known Sora would come find him here. And maybe he'd been too panicked to think of any other world but the island where he felt safest. He put his arm over Riku and held him close.

"Sure," he said. "I'll come with you. What do you need to do there?"

"I need to visit Ansem's library," Riku explained. "I used to read there when...um...I had a room. Kind of." He cut himself off before he stumbled further into his time spent with Maleficent. "He had lots of books on heartless and keyblades. I want to find a book that I saw before."

"How come?"

"It was a book on darkness. On the dark keyblade masters before me."

A whisper floated through Sora's memory, an echo of the keyblade master of darkness that would bring chaos and destruction to the worlds. His expression tightened. Not Riku. It wasn't Riku. Riku used darkness, true, but he had his heart.

"So we'll go tomorrow," Sora said, reminding himself to stay cheerful. "I'll get to see Leon and Yuffie and everyone. And we can bring Kairi with us. It'll be fun."

The more Sora thought about it, the more he thought it was true. He wanted to see his friends, catch up with them, maybe find new places to skateboard. Maybe he'd get Riku to skateboard with him. And there was nothing quite like hurling himself off of a parapet in Hollow Bastion and falling hundreds of feet, only to float the last few inches and land safely.

"Sora?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks." Riku turned slightly and held him, breathing in the scent of his hair. "Tomorrow morning I'll get some clothes, and then we can go."

Sounded fine to Sora. His eyes were closing when another thought struck him.

"Hey, if you can create doors, how come we're sleeping out here?"

Riku hesitated before he answered, but not out of shame or fear. It was embarrassment. Sora could feel the difference. His shy look was fun to watch.

"Well...if we each went home, we wouldn't be spending the night together. And I--I need you next to me right now."

A grin broke over Sora's face and all of his worries faded.

tbc...


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

From his bedroom balcony, Riku saw the island and made out the red and white dots that were his friends on the beach. While he came home and grabbed another change of clothes, Sora had gone and collected Kairi. The two of them had to be talking. About him? He sighed and put on a pair of shoes. Probably.

He counted Kairi as one of his few friends, and he knew she cared about him, but care didn't equal trust. She knew him too well for that and love didn't cloud her eyes like Sora. Before the darkness had appeared, she'd known that he'd changed. A day more and she might have taken Sora and the raft herself. Later on in Xemnas' castle, she had seen through Ansem's shape and recognized him when he would have preferred disappearing again. He suspected that she could look through him and see his darkness.

Before he left his room, he grabbed all his gear and munny as if he was going into battle. He hoped he wasn't, that the serpent heartless and his dark outfit had been a fluke. He doubted it, but it was nice to hope.

Opening a door of shadows came naturally, as if he'd never lost the ability. Stepping across its threshhold felt like passing through cool mist before coming out in the hot sun of the island. He let the door vanish behind him.

"Hey, Riku," Kairi grinned.

"Hey, Kairi."

"Are you okay?" she asked, her smile softening to concern. She leaned forward with her hands clasped behind her back, smiling. "Sora told me about the heartless you and him killed. It didn't hurt you, did it?"

So Sora hadn't told her everything. Riku breathed out in relief.

"I'm fine."

"Oh." She stood straight and her smile faded.

He winced at how curt he'd sounded and made himself continue. "But I need to know more about my powers. I figured Hollow Bastion might have some answers."

She nodded slowly. "Well, while you're reading, Sora's gonna introduce me to his friends and maybe I can find out more about who I am."

"Oh."

If Sora was going to visit his friends, then he wouldn't accompany him to the library. A fist clenched in Riku's stomach. He didn't want to go back to the castle--Maleficent's castle--without Sora. But he swallowed his annoyance.

"Are you both ready?" he asked.

When they nodded, he opened the door and beckoned them through.

They arrived on the ledge overlooking Radiant Garden's merchant district, a small distance from Scrooge's ice cream parlour. Riku looked around to make sure no one had noticed their arrival, then scanned the horizon. Hollow Bastion, frozen and still, loomed in the distance.

"Wow..." Kairi breathed, staring at the waterfalls scattered through the city. "It's so pretty."

"Just wait 'till you see all of it," Sora said. "The view from the bailey is awesome. And there's the ice cream, and the skateboarding, and the crystal cave."

Riku walked to the edge of the roof and gazed at the castle. It looked so small now, a place from another lifetime.

"While you two visit," he said over his shoulder, "I'll be studying. Will I meet you back here?"

"Huh?" Kairi turned from the waterfalls and stared at him. "You're not coming?"

"Not even to meet them?" Sora asked.

Riku didn't turn. Hearing the disappointment in Sora's voice hurt, and he knew that if he turned and saw Sora's eyes, he'd lose his resolve. It was hard enough that so many people knew he was the keyblade master of darkness. He didn't want to suffer being introduced to people who knew what he'd done to Sora, who had been his friends while Riku plotted against him.

"You know I'm not much of a people person," Riku offered. "And I don't want to lose time. That library will take hours to sort through, let alone begin to read."

"Okay," Sora said, although he didn't sound happy about it.

He came beside Riku and put his hand on his shoulder, waiting for him to meet his look. Riku lowered his head and glanced at the stones at Sora's feet.

"Want me to come get you later on?" Sora asked. "I wanna show Kairi the crystal cave, so it'll be on the way."

"That's okay," Riku said. "I'll come back around sunset and meet you at--Merlin's house, was it?"

Sora's face lit up. Riku felt his heart sink. He knew what Sora would say before he opened his mouth, and there was no way he'd enjoy--

"Great! Then you can meet my friends."

There were a thousand ways he could say no, but he couldn't bring himself to use any of them. He smiled despite himself and sighed.

"Sure. I'll see you then."

One kiss shouldn't be worth the time he'd spend with people who'd hate him, not one quick flutter against his cheek followed by a smile and wide eyes. Somehow it was. He opened another door behind himself, staring at Sora with what he knew was a horribly shy smile, unable to look away until the door closed around himself, swallowing him in darkness.

When he appeared a second later in front of Hollow Bastion's gate, Riku shook his head at himself. A kiss from Sora and he turned into a love-struck fool. Good thing he'd left right after Sora kissed him. A moment more and he might have stayed, no matter how awkward he felt.

The sheer height of Hollow Bastion dragged his attention back. The heavy winds blew fast around him, chilling him to the bone, and he pushed open the huge doors, sliding through the thin opening. He closed them again quickly, and the sound of them shutting echoed through the large chamber.

The stillness unnerved him. He walked slowly into the middle of the room, listening to his footsteps. No clockwork, no elevators running on magic and spellcraft, no heartless scurrying in the corners. Even the fountain had run dry. The castle had been so alive when he'd lived here. Dark, ominous and lonely, but alive. Now he felt like he was walking through a corpse.

The passage of time couldn't clear the scent of darkness still clinging to every wall and suit of armor. Maleficent had ruled here too long. The empty corridors echoed with her raven's beating wings, her haughty laugh.

Maybe it was best that he'd come alone. His memories of this place left him cold inside, as if Maleficent were still here and he was biding his time until she found Kairi. As if Sora might come running up those steps with a wooden sword, and Riku, in his terrible dark gear, would face him again, as cruel as the monsters who stole hearts.

He hurried into the library, relieved to find that he was alone. He brushed his fingertips along the books, reading their spines as he walked. Memories returned to him. He'd spent long hours and days here trying to learn about the darkness, the worlds beyond his island. The books he wanted lay in the corner beneath the second floor overhang. After picking out a handful--_Keyblades: Myths and Legends, Prophecies of Chaos, A History of the Light, An Account of the War Between Light and Dark_, that last one little more than a brittle manuscript--he sat down at the table against the wall. The candle he'd placed there more than a year ago still stood on its corner, and he lit it with a small spell.

As he opened the first book, he realized that he had nothing to write with. If he didn't want to have to come back and re-read everything, he needed notes. He left the table and searched for pen and paper, finding some left by a more recent visitor upstairs. A small stack of neatly written stationery lay beside an open book, and as he took a handful of blank paper and a pen, he also took a moment to skim the book.

"Princesses need not be chosen only from those of royal blood. True nobility shines forth with an inner light. Royal lineage is no requirement for royal quality, and the royalty of Radiant Gardens has always been so."

He shook his head. He wanted to keep reading, but he didn't have time to spend on it. He made a mental note to tell Sora and Kairi that this book was here and returned to his own studying.

What he found was not promising. Despite the books' titles, most of the information was sketchy at best, vague with few details. There were few keyblade masters who'd become dark, and most of those had lost their hearts to the heartless. Only one other had given himself to the darkness, and he had destroyed cities and worlds in a mad frenzy until the keyblade master of light had destroyed him.

Riku felt his stomach clench. The picture in the book, a copy of a long faded tapestry, showed a young man wearing a dark suit with a white train kneeling before another young man, one whose keyblade was a blaze of light as he held it aloft, about to strike.

To Riku, it looked less like the dark master had been defeated and more like he'd surrended to be executed. What was it like to be so lost in the darkness that death was a mercy? He sighed and sat back, closing his eyes. He wished Sora was here. He wished he'd never given himself to the dark. He wished he hadn't let the keyblade of light slip through his fingers--

No.

Shaking his head to himself, he knew better. Why lie to himself? Sora's heart was stronger. If he'd tried to go it alone as Sora had, humiliated with nothing but a wooden sword...he didn't think he was that resilient.

No, the darkness suited him. Perhaps if he accepted that, he wouldn't go mad like his predecessor.

The candle hissed. Riku looked up with a start as the flame drowned in a puddle of wax. How many hours had passed? The setting sun threw long shadows on the floor. He wasn't finished, but it was time to find Sora. He doubted that he'd find more information if he stayed anyway.

He stuffed his meager pile of notes into his pocket, and as he stood, his chair scraped the floor. It sounded loud in the still air, but what startled him was the tiny drag of a foot on the tile outside. Someone was in the front chamber, someone who didn't want to be discovered.

His keyblade came to his hand instantly. He didn't second-guess himself. If he was wrong, he'd laugh off his own nerves playing tricks on him. If he was right...

His hand was on the doorknob when a masculine voice yelled "whoever's in there, show yourself!"

Wonderful, Riku thought. Sounds like a hero.

He stepped out, keyblade in hand, and stared at the man in front of him. Tall, brown haired, with a sword mounted on his gun, aimed right at Riku.

"And you are?" Riku asked, barely glancing at the gun.

"You're the one trespassing," was the reply. "I should be asking you that."

"Just a visitor. I'm about to leave, actually. Your library's pretty useless."

Beneath him on the lower floor, Leon frowned. He didn't recognize this kid but he knew a keyblade when he saw it. Sora had mentioned his friend coming here to research, but this kid didn't look anything like Sora's other friends. This person looked like he'd come straight out of the shadows.

About to demand his name again, Leon tightened his grip on his gunblade, readying for a fight. Riku did the same, raising his keyblade.

Before either could strike first, darkness suddenly covered Hollow Bastion

Shadows swirled on the floor, spreading out in all directions. The fountain coughed and sputtered as shadows ran from the gargoyle's mouth like water. The torches on the wall flickered with black fire. Riku gasped as the stench of darkness became overwhelming.

As Leon backed away from the whirlpool, he looked up at Riku. His eyes narrowed. If he was Sora's friend, the keyblade master of darkness, why was he struggling to breathe?

"Is this your doing?" Leon yelled, no longer aiming at Riku.

"No," Riku rasped. He dropped to one knee and leaned on his keyblade. "It isn't me. It's--it's coming from somewhere else."

Leon aimed at the whirlpool and fired, but the bullet disappeared. He growled in frustration. There was nothing to shoot, nothing to hit.

Riku squeezed his eyes shut. Something was wrong. Darkness never affected him like this. It was always cold, not stifling. He never--no. He had, once. He'd nearly succumbed and lost himself, gasping and weakened, when he'd used too much of the darkness to travel with Kairi from Hook's ship back to Hollow Bastion.

The shadows were so thick they turned into sludge, like a mudslide filling the chamber. Across the room, Leon flung the doors open wide and yelled at him to follow, but Riku shook his head. He could barely move. The doors might as well have been miles away.

What would happen if he transformed? Would the shadows overwhelm him again, this time permanently? He hesitated. If he opened a door of shadows, would it be affected by the maelstrom here?

Seeping up through the floor as if the castle were sinking, shadows began to coalesce around him, creeping over his fingers and up the keyblade. He had no choice. He summoned the darkness around himself and felt the familiar outfit appear with the heartless emblem on his chest.

Instantly the feeling of suffocating stopped. Drawing in a deep breath, he stood and leaped onto one of the columns, hanging onto the edge of the second floor.

Riku still didn't understand. Was this a trap? It was too slow. Maybe it was a spell left by Maleficent? But she hadn't wielded any real power over the darkness. Or maybe it was the heartless? If so, then where were the dragons, the guards with their huge shields, the little black annoyances that disappeared into the ground just before he could hit them?

The chamber rumbled and shook. The whirlpool spun so violently that the rim of the fountain cracked and chipped. The columns trembled and Riku gripped harder as the castle tried to shake free. Outside, Leon jumped back as one of the huge doors tore loose from its hinges and nearly crushed him.

Certain that Hollow Bastion was about to fall apart, Riku tensed, took a deep breath, and leaped towards the doors.

He didn't see the darkness shoot up at him like a tentacle, but he felt it whip around his arms and pin them to his side. Jerked to a stop, Riku yelped and twisted, but before he could strike, the darkness dragged him to the floor.

Barely aware of Leon's shout, Riku lost himself to panic. Darkness clung to his skin, covered his eyes, even forced its way into his mouth. Desperately trying to stay afloat, he kicked and flailed only to sink deeper than should have been possible. The muddy shadows should only have been a couple of feet deep, but he felt himself drawn down until he disappeared.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

Down, down, Riku sank as if through thick mud, clawing ineffectually at the darkness. He didn't dare open his mouth, but he was running out of air. How much farther could he fall? He tried to create a door out to Sora, to the castle, to anywhere, but the shadows swallowed it up every time.

Somehow he'd gotten turned upside down. He was falling faster, he was sure of it, but not fast enough. His lungs burned. The back of his head tingled for lack of oxygen. He gave one more frantic twist trying to find an end to the darkness, then grew still as everything went fuzzy. His eyes half-closed and his lips parted--

Air.

Freefall.

For a brief second he was free, and his raggedly drawn breath cleared his head. Then his body jerked to a stop in midair, caught by thick strands of shadow like tar. Held awkwardly like a puppet, he hung coughing and gasping. He knew he should try to get free, but he let himself catch his breath first.

"Ah, there's my dear boy. My, you look just as I left you. The darkness suits you."

Riku tensed. He didn't have to see who was behind him. He knew that voice. But how had she survived the destruction of the City That Never Was? How was she here at all?

Wait. Where was here? He looked around as much as he could with strands of darkness twisted in his hair--stones and long corridors all blocked off by steel bars, glimmering in the weak green light of the torches. Water dripped and trickled in the distance. Cold, still air. A dungeon beneath Hollow Bastion?

"No greeting in return? I'm hurt."

Riku had to glance out of the corner of her eye to see her. Maleficent looked the same, black robe, pale complexion, but--he flinched as she stroked his cheek with fingers that ended in claws. Her eyes were pure white as she leaned down, her face pale green in the fire light. On her chest lay the blood red symbol of the heartless.

"Ill mannered boy," she scolded. "I took you in like a son. But perhaps you're merely surprised to see your mother--"

"You're not my mother," he snapped.

Her slap followed instantly, a burning sting on his face that turned into a sharp, thin trickle of blood. Her claws had left a slice just under his eye.

"Watch your tongue," she warned him. "My good will is all that keeps you alive. Bait doesn't have to be alive, after all."

"'Bait'?" he echoed.

"Your keyblade master will come for you," she said, turning her back to him. "And when he does, I'll collect his heart. It holds the secret to regaining my own."

"Taking his heart won't help you at all," he said, yanking at his black strings and growling in frustration when they didn't give. "There's no way to--"

"Silence," she said idly, waving her hand.

Flowing over his throat, the darkness crept up his face, covering his mouth like a muzzle. He swore, he screamed, he ranted and cursed--nothing escaped except muffled moans. She didn't even look at him again. He summoned his keyblade, but his hand was trapped at an odd angle. Trying to force the blade over himself only ground the bones in his wrist. He let the keyblade disappear again.

A wave of self-loathing washed over him. He'd destroyed Xemnas and Ansem--why couldn't he yank his way out of these strings? He craned his head as far as he could and looked at himself. His eyes widened. Where the darkness touched his uniform, the two came together seamlessly. When he struggled, he only cemented himself further.

Long minutes passed. He hung limply in place, only shifting when he felt his shoulder start to go numb. There was no sound except the water flowing somewhere close. The torches didn't even crackle.

A keyblade slicing through heartless.

Riku's head snapped up. Had he imagined it? No, he heard it again--the whisper the wind made as Sora swung his keyblade, the satisfying snap as it sent a heartless flying. Sora was coming. Even though the sound of the fighting echoed from far away, Sora was coming for him.

Growling in frustration, Riku thrashed against the darkness one more time, wearing himself out with a long groan. Held captive, dangling like bait on a hook--he looked at Maleficent and wished he could rip her apart with his bare hands. He couldn't even shout a warning to Sora.

Lightning and fireballs flashed in the gloom. In the brief afterglow, he saw Sora's silhouette bringing the keyblade down on a dragon's head, heard him call out spells and shout which way to go. His heart leapt as Sora finally came out of the shadows and into Maleficent's green firelight. At his side--

Riku stared in surprise. Kairi held her own keyblade, nodding once at him before facing the sorceress.

"Riku!" Sora yelled. "Are you all right?"

Riku could only nod, and then Maleficent stepped in front of him, blocking them from view.

"Maleficent," Sora said. "Let Riku go!"

"Are you sure she's who you think it is?" Kairi said in a whisper. "You never said she was a heartless."

"Yes, heartless," Maleficent said, touching the emblem on her chest. "I propose an exchange. I give you Riku, and you give me your heart. Otherwise I burn you all to nothing."

"Get out of my way!" Sora yelled, keyblade high as he charged.

Green flames burst from the floor like a bonfire. Riku squeezed his eyes shut against the heat and tried to turn his head. He couldn't back away and the fire spread out in waves.

Maleficent's wings fanned the flames into a firestorm roaring around them. Sora's keyblade flashed as he struck, sending light over the walls and dazzling Riku's eyes.

Behind the gag, Riku growled as adrenalin soared within him. He felt each swing, felt the deep drag of Maleficent's breath and the wind of her wings. Every instinct drove him to fight at Sora's side. He felt like he'd tear himself in half trying to get free.

Maleficent looked over her shoulder and drew a breath, ready to spit one last mouthful of fire right at him, but the next sound was not a fireball but a keyblade slicing through her scales. The fight had turned in their favor and her wings reflexively drew back as she reared away from the keyblades.

The dragon, the green flame and the shadows whirled into a tight ball and streaked past Sora and Kairi, disappearing down the tunnel until the echo of her magic faded away. Riku'd hoped that her retreat would take the darkness with her, but he still hung from the ceiling like a prize. While Kairi cast a handful of healing spells, Sora ran up to Riku and cupped his head in his hands, staring into his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Riku nodded and let his eyes close. Sora's hands were so warm, his presence by him comforting in the cold dungeon air. Sora's fingertips traced the darkness covering Riku's face.

"Geez, this stuff's like ice," Sora said. "No wonder you're shivering."

Shivering? Riku hadn't noticed.

Sora drew his keyblade and backslashed the darkness holding him in place. It faded away, sloughing off his face like water. Riku landed on his feet, but his legs wobbled and gave out. He fell against Sora, who stumbled back a step as he caught him.

"Gotcha," Sora breathed, putting his arms around him. "Just lean on me."

"Like old times," Riku said as he forced a smile.

Riku put his arm over Sora's shoulders, wincing as his shorter lover held him at an awkward angle. But he wasn't about to let himself be carried, and as they walked, each step felt a little stronger. Kairi held a potion to his lips, but the draught only took the edge off his weakness. She put his other arm over her shoulders, and together they slowly made their way down the hall.

Without Maleficent, the torches glowed normally again, warming the damp dungeons. Skin to skin with his friends, Riku started to feel how cold he was. His suit only gathered the darkness to him, and the darkness was like icy ink.

"How'd you find me?" he asked, whispering when he couldn't keep his voice steady.

"Leon told us you got dragged down here," Sora said. "So we came running and there was no one in the castle, so we came down here."

"Jumped down here," Kairi corrected. "Sora took a running leap off the edge and scared me half to death."

"Sorry," Sora said, but his smile didn't look sorry. "Habit, I guess."

"Yeah, I keep forgetting you can fly," she said. "Which totally isn't fair, by the way."

"We have to visit Neverland again," Sora said. "Tinkerbell might give you pixie dust, too."

Riku let himself drift within their voices. After hours dangling like a puppet, his raw nerves were slowly soothed and he relaxed enough to lean his head against Sora's, closing his eyes and walking blindly. Maleficent was gone, at least for now, and he didn't have to worry about any heartless about.

"You could probably learn to run up and down walls," Riku said softly. "When you get stronger with your keyblade."

"You really think so?" she asked, smiling as she readjusted his arm on her. "It looks so cool when you guys do it."

"It's easy after you get used to it," Sora nodded. "Hey, when you learn how to do it, we can have three way races on the island."

"Oh, that'd be cool," she said. "No more keeping score for me."

Riku snorted. "Don't trust him. He's faster when he flies. He wants to win against both of us, that's all."

Kairi clucked indignantly and Sora just grinned wider.

The walk back to Radiant Gardens was long and slow going, especially since Sora refused to let Riku simply open a door for fear he'd disappear into the darkness. Even more so because Riku refused to be carried. By the time they reached the crystal cave, Sora was bore much of his weight that Kairi quietly stepped out from under Riku's side, letting him lean completely against Sora. The sun had set while Riku waited for rescue, and they walked under the cover of stars.

"You still awake?" Sora whispered.

"Mm...wha'?" Riku's eyes fluttered open, then closed again and his head drooped heavily on Sora's shoulder.

"At least he isn't shivering anymore," Kairi said softly.

Sora nodded once. Whether it was their shared body heat or the walk, Riku was warmer, but he still looked pale. The walk was taxing the very last of his reserves, and Sora didn't want him to overexert himself. Bending slightly, he put his free arm under Riku's legs and gathered him up, stumbling to the left a step as he compensated for Riku's greater height.

A muffled protest followed as Riku grumbled, and Sora froze, expected Riku to wake up and snap at him. Instead his lover yawned again and put his arms around Sora's neck, holding him while still asleep. Kairi giggled behind her hand.

"I hope he doesn't wake up any time soon," she said. "He'll never live it down."

"He's just stubborn," Sora said. "It's worse when it's about his balance."

"You mean between the light and dark inside him?" she asked.

Sora nodded and didn't explain. The walk back was much faster now, and they crossed the bailey and the town wall with no problem. Sora didn't bother with the stairs, stepping off the wall and floating down to a gentle landing. The town was awash in the gold light of streetlamps and windows still lit from inside.

"Sorry," Sora whispered to Riku. "I know you didn't want to see anyone, but there's no where else to crash for the night."

As he carried Riku to the house next to Merlin's, he nodded his thanks to Kairi as she opened the door for him. Aerith's home was simple with lace curtains and the scent of roses. The house was quiet, so Sora took Riku up the stairs to the guest room and the spare bed. To his surprise, the blankets were already turned down, and he lay Riku down, making sure his head was pillowed. He leaned over him for a moment, smoothing back the hair that had fallen in his eyes. Riku looked unguarded in his sleep, or maybe it was because Sora was nearby.

Sora closed the door for modesty's sake, then summoned his keyblade and aimed it at Riku. This time he controlled the power in his weapon, holding some back, and when Riku's dark gear melted into the air, his normal yellow and blue clothes remained.

"Phew," Sora sighed. "He never would've forgiven me if I zapped those again."

"They still need to come off."

"Gah!"

Spinning around, Sora found Aerith standing in the doorway, her smile gentle as always. She came inside and looked over Riku, lightly touching his face, then bent over the nightstand and fished out a candle and a holder.

"Kairi said he was cold, but if he was covered in darkness, then it's deeper than that. You need to warm him up."

As she spoke, she lit the candle and set it well away from the bed. Its orange glow filled the corner, steadily burning and giving off a satisfying scent of wood and herbs. She must make her own candles, Sora realized, and again he was glad he'd asked permission to bring Riku here. There was no safer place in Radiant Gardens.

"How do I warm him up?" Sora asked. "Even if I cover him, he's too cold to get warm."

"Skin to skin is usually how it's done," she said, and her smile turned a touch mischievous as Sora blushed. "I'll bring dinner in a few hours. He should be feeling a little better by then."

She walked out, quietly closing the door behind her. Sora went to the window at the far wall and drew the curtains, making the candle's glow the only light, and unbuttoned his shirt. Stepping out of his shoes, he draped his clothes over the foot of the bed, then undid Riku's shoelaces and pants, drawing them off without waking him. Taking off his shirt was harder, and he had to put his arm under Riku and lift him slightly, tilting him and adjust his arms.

"Mm...Sora?" Riku's eyes half-opened, but he didn't move as Sora tossed his clothing aside.

"It's okay," Sora said. "Go back to sleep."

"Where are we?" Riku asked.

Sora climbed into bed and lay down on top of him, dragging the blankets over them. Riku felt like he had slept in snow, but little by little, the skin underneath his warmed and regained its color.

"We're in Aerith's house," Sora said. "She's my friend."

Looking more aware, Riku blinked and glanced at the room. "I don't remember coming here."

"Um.." Sora smiled. "That's 'cause you fell asleep and I carried you here. Don't worry, no one saw you but me and Kairi."

Riku groaned and turned his face toward the wall. "At least that hero didn't see me."

"What hero? Leon?" Sora laughed and hugged Riku close. "He said you were really rude. Did you have to snap at him like that?"

"He aimed his gun-sword thing at me," Riku argued.

"Oh, so he started it?"

Riku half-smiled. "Yeah. Totally not my fault."

Still sore and weary, Riku closed his eyes, putting one leg over Sora's. His lover was warm, cutting through the cold that had chilled him to the bone.

"So did you find anything in the library?" Sora asked.

"Not much," Riku said. "Just more of what we already knew. There's only been one keyblade master who gave himself to the darkness...and the keyblade master of light had to kill him."

Sora held him a little tighter.

"That won't happen," Sora whispered. He looked at him, leaning up on one elbow when Riku didn't look back. "You're not gonna die."

"If I lose myself--" Riku started, but Sora interrupted.

"Then I'll bring you back." Sora gave him a stubborn look and lay down again. "Besides, you got possessed by Xehanort's heartless. And he's gone now."

Riku couldn't argue with that. He remembered the picture of the boy kneeling before that blazing keyblade, surrendering himself to execution. But Riku didn't want to die. More importantly, he didn't want to put Sora through the pain of having to kill him.

"I did find a book about the princesses here in Radiant Gardens," Riku said, changing the subject. "But I didn't have time to read it."

"Princesses? You mean like Kairi." Sora nodded to himself. "She never talks about it. When all this is over, we should come back and find out about this place. Leon never mentioned anything about a king. Well, except for King Mickey."

King Mickey. The more Riku thought about it, the better it sounded. Mickey always seemed to know what was going on, and if he didn't, he knew how to find out. Best of all, he wouldn't have to meet any of Sora's friends who only knew him as Sora's shadow, the boy whose heart was weak enough to fall prey to the darkness.

"We should visit the king next," Riku said. "He'll know why the heartless are back."

Sora nodded slowly. "And he has his own library. It might have more information than Hollow Bastion."

"Great," Riku said as if it was decided.

He yawned and put his arm over Sora, not noticing how Sora's stare was troubled, how he held Riku not just to warm him but to keep him trapped in bed.

Sora knew his lover better than Riku knew. He thought Riku was too dramatic and too hard on himself, and his discovery of what happened to the other dark keyblade users fit easily with what Riku thought of himself. Sora couldn't chain himself to the other boy, but he was sorely tempted to try.

As Riku's breath evened out in sleep, Sora lay awake for a long time, lost in thought.

TBC...


End file.
